God's secret agents : Queen Elizabeth's forbidden priests and the hatching of the gunpowder plot

A thrilling account of treachery, loyalty and martyrdom in Elizabethan England from an exceptional new writer. As darkness fell on the evening of Friday, 28 October 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young Englishmen landed in secret on a Norfolk beach. They were Jesuit priests. Their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of arms: return England to the Catholic Church. Eighteen years later their mission had been shattered by the actions of a small group of terrorists, the Gunpowder Plotters; they, themselves, had been accused of designing 'that most horrid and hellish conspiracy'; and the future of every Catholic they had come to save depended on the silence of an Oxford joiner, builder of priest-holes, being tortured in the Tower of London. God's Secret Agents tells the story of Elizabeth's 'other' England, a country at war with an unseen enemy, a country peopled - according to popular pamphlets and Government proclamations - with potential traitors, fifth-columnists, and assassins. And it tells this story from the perspective of that unseen 'enemy', England's Catholics, a beleaguered, alienated minority, struggling to uphold its faith. Using contemporary documents, God's Secret Agents pieces together a deadly game of cat-and-mouse between priests and Government spies, as Elizabeth and her ministers fought to defend the State, and English Catholics fought to defend their souls. It follows the priests - God's Secret Agents - from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and their lonely lives in hiding, to the scaffold, where a gruesome death awaited them. To their Government they were traitors, to their co-religionists they were glorious martyrs. It was a distinction that the Gunpowder Plot would put to the test. Ultimately God's Secret Agents is the story of men who would die for their cause undone by men who would kill for it.

Using contemporary documents, Hogge pieces together the story of the secret war between priests and government spies leading up to the Gunpowder Plot. Hogge follows the priests—God's Secret Agents—from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys to their gruesome deaths on the scaffolds. The volume contains portraits of the principals, maps of London and photographs of the priests' hiding places. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Publishers Weekly

As historian Hogge points out in this sometimes dry and sometimes lively popular religious history, the impulse to return Catholicism to England in the latter part of the 16th century arose with the establishment of the Anglican Church. In the early days of her reign, Elizabeth instituted strict laws regarding church attendance and religious practice with punishments that included fines and death. By the time that James I ascended to the throne, persecution of Catholics had risen to such a pitch that a group of Catholic conspirators, including most famously Guy Fawkes, hatched a plot to blow up Parliament. Hogge provides a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of the priests-such as Edmund Campion, John Gerard and Henry Garnet-who made martyrs of themselves in their efforts to reinstate Catholicism in England. Hogge deftly narrates the seething world of religious conflict in late 16th- and early 17th-century England, as well as the intra-Catholic conflicts that arose in the face of persecutions by the throne. Anyone interested in vibrant details of the Gunpowder Plot will have to look elsewhere, since the event plays a small role in Hogge's book, but for a detailed sketch of the religious conflict that led to the plot, Hogge's book provides a starting point. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

"One evening in 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young men landed in secret on a beach in Norfolk, England. They were Jesuit priests, Englishmen, and their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of arms: return England to the Catholic Church." "Eighteen years later their mission had been shattered by the actions of the Gunpowder Plotters - a small group of terrorists who famously tried to destroy the Houses of Parliament - for the Jesuits were accused of having designed "that most horrid and hellish conspiracy." In an unusual turn of events, the future of every Catholic they had hoped to save would soon come to depend on the silence of one Oxford carpenter, a man being tortured in the Tower of London for building priest holes, those bunkers in which the Catholic clergy hid from English authorities." "Using contemporary documents, Alice Hogge's new book pieces together a deadly game of cat-and-mouse between priests and government spies, as Queen Elizabeth and her ministers fought to defend the state, and English Catholics fought to defend their souls. It follows the priests - God's Secret Agents - from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and their lonely lives in hiding, to the scaffold, where a gruesome death awaited them. To their government they were traitors; to their fellow Catholics they were glorious martyrs. It was a distinction that the Gunpowder Plot would put to the test. Ultimately God's Secret Agents is the story of men who would die for their cause undone by men who would kill for it."--Page 4 of cover This book offers a thrilling account of treachery, loyalty and martyrdom, in Elizabethan England from an exceptional new writer. As darkness fell on the evening of Friday, 28 October 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young Englishmen landed in secret on a Norfolk beach. They were Jesuit priests. Their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of arms: return England to the Catholic Church. Eighteen years later their mission had been shattered by the actions of a small group of terrorists, the Gunpowder Plotters; they themselves had been accused of designing 'that most horrid and hellish conspiracy'; and the future of every Catholic they had come to save depended on the silence of an Oxford joiner, builder of priest-holes, being tortured in the Tower of London. 'God's Secret Agents' tells the story of Elizabeth's 'other' England, a country at war with an unseen enemy, a country peopled - according to popular pamphlets and Government proclamations - with potential traitors, fifth-columnists, and assassins. And, it tells this story from the perspective of that unseen 'enemy', England's Catholics, a beleaguered, alienated minority, struggling to uphold its faith. Ultimately 'God's Secret Agents' is the story of men who would die for their cause undone by men who would kill for it One evening in 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young men landed in secret on a beach in Norfolk, England. They were Jesuit priests, Englishmen, and their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of arms: return England to the Catholic Church. Eighteen years later their mission would be shattered by the actions of the Gunpowder Plotters -- a small group of terrorists who famously tried to destroy the Houses of Parliament -- for the Jesuits were accused of having designed "that most horrid and hellish conspiracy." Alice Hogge follows "God's secret agents" from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and lonely lives in hiding, to, ultimately, the gallows. She offers a remarkable true account of faith, duty, intolerance, and martyrdom -- the unforgettable story of men who would die for a cause undone by men who would kill for it. "Using contemporary documents, Alice Hogge's new book pieces together a deadly game of cat-and-mouse between priests and government spies, as Queen Elizabeth and her ministers fought to defend the state, and English Catholics fought to defend their souls. It follows the priests - God's Secret Agents - from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and their lonely lives in hiding, to the scaffold, where a gruesome death awaited them. To their government they were traitors; to their fellow Catholics they were glorious martyrs. It was a distinction that the Gunpowder Plot would put to the test. Ultimately God's Secret Agents is the story of men who would die for their cause undone by men who would kill for it."--Jacket An analysis of religious fundamentalism during the reign of Elizabeth I describes the government's promotion of patriotism over religious beliefs, tracing the mission of two young Jesuit priests to return power to the Catholic Church